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South Dakota State University's student government had two conflicting resolutions on their agenda Monday night regarding Chick-fil-A. Photo of the SDSU Campanile by Jerry Wilson.

Gay Rights And Chicken Sandwiches At SDSU

Sep 19, 2012

By Cory Allen Heidelberger

I got through the summer mostly avoiding discussion of the kerfuffle over Chick-fil-A and gay rights. Now my alma mater finally dragged me into it.

This summer, Chick-fil-A's CEO Dan Cathy caused a fuss by saying he doesn't care much for gay rights. Cathy said his company supports traditional families. His company has given millions of dollars to groups that fight gay rights. In July, Cathy said we risk "God's judgment on our nation" if we allow homosexuals to marry. He called folks like me who think whom you marry is none of the state's business "prideful" and "arrogant."

Some foolish arrogance seeped out of the SDSU Students' Association Monday night. The Jackrabbits' student government had two resolutions on its agenda. The first expressed support for the university administration's decision to invite Chick-fil-A to build a store on campus and declared a desire to increase inclusiveness for all SDSU students. The second criticized Chick-fil-A for its "dishonest" anti-gay activism and reaffirmed the SA's commitment to addressing LGBT issues on campus.

The SA could have passed both of these resolutions. The student senators could have clapped President Chicoine on the back for improving Jacks' access to crispy processed chicken. (But really, Jacks: is on-campus dining that confining? For me twenty-two years ago, Medary Commons French toast at dawn, Jacks Place pizza for lunch, and a good whiff of Charlie Schaaf's chuckwagon stew smoking up Hansen Hall made SDSU a Shangri-La of food diversity. Add McDonalds down the street, and what more could a Lake Herman boy ask for?) Then the Senators could have wagged a finger at CEO Cathy's anti-gay language and reminded him that he'll be hawking his sandwiches on a campus committed to equal rights and opportunity for all students.

But no. By distressingly wide margins, the SA approved the sillier resolution cheering SDSU's decision 23-6, then rejected the more important resolution affirming the SA's commitment to truth and fairness 9-20.

Kaytlin Pelton, another co-sponsor from the College of Ag and Biological Sciences, hopes that Chick-fil-A coming to campus would promote the discussion at SDSU about LGBT issues. “What better way to promote diversity than to bring in this company … That would be awesome” [Marcus Traxler, "SA Votes to Support University Decision on Chick-fil-A," SDSU Collegian, 2012.09.17].

Chick-fil-A three times a day wouldn't make me feel as queasy as Senator Pelton's absurd argument. Bringing in a company that funds anti-gay propaganda to do business at SDSU is no better way to promote "diversity" than inviting the Ku Klux Klan to open an office in the Student Union.

We don't increase "inclusiveness" by cheering exclusiveness. We don't enhance "diversity" at SDSU or across South Dakota by giving more voice to fundamentalist Christians who think non-heterosexual behavior disqualifies folks from certain basic rights. But the SDSU Students' Association says inclusiveness and diversity mean defending a wealthy corporate executive and his anti-gay activities instead of standing up for equal rights for and honest dialogue with a genuine persecuted minority among their constituents.

Cory Allen Heidelberger writes the Madville Times political blog. He grew up on the shores of Lake Herman. He studied math and history at SDSU and information systems at DSU, and is currently teaching French at Spearfish High School. A longtime country dweller, Cory is enjoying "urban" living with his family in Spearfish.

Comments

12:04 pm - Wed, September 19 2012

Becca
said:

I can't help but feel a little disappointed in the Student Association.

01:06 pm - Wed, September 19 2012

Michael Miller
said:

If you don't like their political stance-- on any subject-- then don't eat there.If you don't like the food- don't eat there.If you don't like the service-- then don't eat thereSince when do ban service vendors from our campuses because they don't follow lock-step with noisy agenda groups. Are you proposing that we give all of our campus service vendors a political correctness test before allowing them on campus?

01:46 pm - Wed, September 19 2012

floyd r turbo
said:

Yeah, Cory-

Love it or leave it.In the meantime, I'll be clinging to my religion and guns.

[Whoops! The above comment was mine; I was hurrying and forgot to fill in the ID. Sorry!]

Michael, I probably won't eat there. When I was a student, I enjoyed my on-campus meals, but I quickly learned to save a lot of money by cooking my own stuff back at the dorm. But let me ask you, Michael: why do think the SA took the time to debate these resolutions and to pass the one that it did? What did the student senators want to achieve?

06:57 pm - Wed, September 19 2012

dave tunge
said:

Lots of talk about equal rights and whom one marries is nobodys business. Persecuted minorities got mentioned and also non-heterosexual behavior disqualifying basic rights.I personally believe in traditional marriage but I would imagine the definition of marriage has changed since the old Webster.........and that makes me wonder what's next. To not ignore individual rights then Bob should be able to marry Nancy and Bill. Does marriage have to be limited to 2 people? Or if Bob was married to Mary shouldn't they both be allowed to marry Nancy and Bill? Seems only fair that we should not infringe on their basic rights. And would incestual marriages be off limits as homosexual marriages once were? No matter our beliefs I'm stll in awe at the changes that have occured in the past couple of decades.

Remember, Doug, CEO Cathy isn't just opposed to gay marriage. He backs groups who think homosexuality is a disease and is "curable." That's not just loathsome; it's simply untrue. That's the thrust of the minority resolution that the SA rejected.

As for marriage and the slippery slope: there are some useful arguments about power and abuse that suggest incest and polygamy are significantly different from consensual monogamous relationships. Incest is fraught with power issues, parent over child, that render such relationships suspect. Ditto polygamy: one person getting multiple mates almost inevitably entails a power imbalance. The four-way you describe, two couples coupling, is tricky to entertain... but it also doesn't seem to have any historical tradition that would allow us to really study what such relationships are about.

04:51 am - Fri, September 21 2012

Grumpy
said:

Remember CODY, who is DOUG?

07:18 am - Sat, September 22 2012

JUlie Gross
said:

"Chick-fil-A's CEO Dan Cathy caused a fuss by saying he doesn't care much for gay rights."

That's not what he said, and you know it.

"He called folks like me who think whom you marry is none of the state's business "

So if it's none of the state's business, why are you making it the state's business. Geez, make up your mind.

"By distressingly wide margins"

Or, "by reassuringly wide margins"--depends on your view I suppose.

"We don't increase "inclusiveness" by cheering exclusiveness."

How do you increase inclusiveness by cheering efforts to exclude Chick fil a?

These silly mantras sprinkled throught Seig Heidelberger's rant have no substantive effect because they're based on little more than his "feelings".

As with most of Seig Heildeberger's "writings", they're little more that hate-filled attacks on folks who disagree with him. Opposition to gay marriage becomes "homophobic" and anti-gay rights and persecuting a minority. What horse crap. Fortunately, even the youth of SDSU and the Chick Fil A execs don't have a clue who the author of this rant is, let alone care.

There is no place in SD or SD Mag for this kind of hate and name-calling espoused time and time again by this "author". That's not the way we do it in SD son.

As before, SD Mag will suffer the economic consequences.

07:20 am - Sat, September 22 2012

JUlie Gross
said:

"He backs groups who think homosexuality is a disease and is "curable." '

No, one person getting A MATE almost always involves a power imbalance. (Well studied in lesbian relationships). What's true about 2, is true about 3-4-5.

The ability of closed-minded people like Seig Heildeberger to select and deselect oon a whim is amazing.

07:40 am - Sat, September 22 2012

JUlie Gross
said:

"As for marriage and the slippery slope"

Actually, it's not a "slippery slope".

Just as gay-marriage nazis wish to redefine "one male and one female" to "two of whatever", polygamist wish to change "two" to 2-3-4...

Gay, plural, incestuous, and interspecies arguments are not down a "slippery slope"--they're ALL efforts to REDEFINE.

Seig Heildeberger's opposition to plural and incestuous marriage only show just how discriminatory his views are--how do we become more inclusive with plurophobes like Heidleberger infesting our state? We've come too far to allow the new-age Inquisitors of yesteryear (like Heildberger) to tell us enlightened folks of the 21st century whom to exclude from marriage.

But Seig Heidleberger says inclusiveness and diversity mean defending an angry blogger and his anti-plural rants ("render such relationships suspect") instead of standing up for equal rights for and honest dialogue with a genuine persecuted minority among their constituents.

Advocates of "diversity" and "inclusiveness" are typically the most bigoted and exclusive people around. Exhibit A: The author of this "column".

07:44 am - Sat, September 22 2012

JUlie Gross
said:

"genuine persecuted minority among their constituents."

How many practicing gay couples are in jail? 0. (homosexual conduct is now consitutionally protected)

How many practicing polygamists are in jail? Scores. (polygamy is a CRIME in most states).

So, who exactly are the genuinely persecuted minority?

Polygamy persecutiion is the new homophoboia.

08:09 am - Sun, September 23 2012

JUlie Gross
said:

"there are some useful arguments about power and abuse that suggest incest and polygamy are significantly different from consensual monogamous relationships."

And so Seig Heildelberger opposes bisexual marriage, but I doubt he's aware of how.

Since Seig Heidelberger opposes plural marriage (his use of "polygamy" is as outdated as "Negro"), bisexuals cannot marry whom they wish.

Such hate of GBLT causes is disappointing and loathsome--what's even more disappointing is that SD Mag continues to offer this hate-monger a platform to spew his falsehoods about plural marriage and other divisive messages that aim to deny our fellow citizens their basic human rights. That's not SD--those are not SD values.

Like Chick Fil A, SD Mag will suffer the economic consequences for sponsoring this klan-like blowhard.

04:55 am - Wed, September 26 2012

Justme
said:

Agreed with Julie

03:26 pm - Thu, September 27 2012

JUlie Gross
said:

"The SA could have passed both of these resolutions."

Well,sure it could have. The fact that it did not is a sign of DIVERSITY, right?

A sure sign of an open mind is that it can hold two opposing views at the same time--that's not "confusion", THAT'S OPEN MIND.

And now we find Seig Helielburger attacking a motel business in SD for misspellings on its signage.

Of course, the attack is because the signage was anti-Obama. For all his rantings about inclusion and tolerance, what we find is that Heildelbeger is just another racist partisan who is also a hypocrite.

If I were the motel owner, I'd go after Heideberger and every penny he has. In fact, if the motel were to contact me, I'd help them out and sue Heidelberger.